


sink or swim

by tatiana_romanoff



Series: freaks of nature [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s01e03 Dead in the Water, Original Character(s), Pre-Slash, The Author Regrets Nothing, this show is so old omg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:27:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26638081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatiana_romanoff/pseuds/tatiana_romanoff
Summary: Arguing won't help matters much, but arguing seems to be all they ever do. Maybe teaming up wasn't the greatest idea.
Relationships: Dean Winchester & Original Female Character(s), Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester & Original Female Character(s), Original Character & Original Character, Sam Winchester & Original Female Character(s)
Series: freaks of nature [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918135





	sink or swim

**Author's Note:**

> im just trying to have a good time ok

Winona ducks back into Lynnwood Inn nearly twenty minutes after she left to take the call, so it's safe to say that Eva is less than optimistic.

"Anything?" She asks.

The elder of the two tosses a notepad, the margins filled with her chicken-scratch handwriting, onto the table. It comes to rest between their plates of partially eaten scrambled eggs, and their coffee.

"The names of all the people Maire has ever heard Dad mention,” Winona replies. She sounds tired, and practically collapses back into her seat, kicking her feet up onto Eva's chair. They've been appropriating part of each other's space since they were little, but the habit hasn't kicked up again until recently.

_Must be stress._

Eva doubts any of the names will pan out, at least in the long run. Maire, who must've given them the information to make them feel better, probably knows it too. She's a smart lady.

"Worth a shot,” she lies, and changes the subject when Winona makes a face. "Has Hanna responded to your messages yet?"

"Nope. I'm starting to think I'm going about this wrong.”

"It's like Vegas all over again.” Dean, who's sitting a few seats over, doesn't look up from the obituaries. He's been reading through them for about as long as the other Cassidy was outside, and it doesn't look like anything's come up.

"Oh, bite me,” Winona retorts, and groans when he replies with, "When and where?"

Eva looks back and forth between them, Hanna's radio silence forgotten. They'd gone back and forth like this in the bar, like it isn't a new thing, which is strange. As kids, Dean spent most of his time either ignoring them, or complaining that he had to babysit. The last time she'd witnessed her sister and him interacting was when he was twenty and they were sixteen—she accidentally hit him in the face with the butt of her shotgun.

(Sam doesn't find it that weird, but Eva's convinced they hung out during the four years they were at Stanford. Maybe they were friends, or something, but that wouldn't explain why Winona didn't have his number.)

"Vegas?" She tries hesitantly, but the waitress interrupts before they can elaborate.

The woman—a pretty blonde in short shorts who's nametag reads _Wendy—_ addresses Dean first.

"Can I get you anything else?" She asks, and the elder Winchester looks up and smiles, the pen held between his teeth. Before he can respond (and make her throw up in her mouth a little) Sam comes back.

"Just the check, please,” he says, and sits down.

Eva laughs quietly as Wendy leaves, and Dean drops his head in disappointment. Winona snickers more openly and watches with amusement.

"You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while,” he complains, and points to the waitress's retreating back. " _That's_ fun.”

"That's disgusting,” Winona mutters, and he glares at her.

Sam looks at his brother, unamused, and half-turns to face the twins. He focuses on the untouched notepad and sighs. "What did your dad's friend say?"

"She gave us names he would drop, but I doubt it'll be useful,” Eva says. He's barely looking her fully in the face, and her shoulder aches with a phantom pain (an old injury, but the memory is stubbornly fresh.) "Hanna isn't responding.”

Sam nods like that's what he was expecting, and his eyes dart away from her quickly. Dean gives him a weird look (he glances at her, too, but not for long) before passing the newspaper, and changing the subject.

"Here, take a look at this,” he says. "I think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week Sophie Carlton, eighteen, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water; nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago.”

"A funeral?"

Eva grimaces. It's the same reason anyone buries an empty coffin, body or otherwise, when someone dies. "Closure.”

"Weird,” Dean mutters, but Sam's face creases in anger.

"Closure?" He scoffs. "What closure? People don't just disappear. Other people just stop looking for them.”

Winona suddenly finds her breakfast interesting again, while Eva's stomach shrivels into a ball. Out of all four of them, the lack of a good lead is hitting Sam the hardest, and his frustration isn't all that well-hidden.

(They aren't one in the same, her and him. Maybe they were when going to college and escaping hunting was the endgame, but now...the only thing keeping Eva here is her obligation to her sisters and father. What's keeping Sam is a lot deeper, and a helluva lot darker than a harried promise made years ago.)

It's Dean who's irked by Sam's words, and it's Dean who calls him out on it: "Something you want to say?"

Eva reaches for her coffee and takes a long sip. She turns the notepad over so the names aren't visible, as if that will make all of their problems go away. She steals a look at Winona, who gives a tiny shrug and keeps eating.

"The trail for Dad,” Sam says. "The trail for _both_ our dads. It's getting colder every day.”

"Exactly,” Dean snaps, "So what are we _supposed_ to do?"

"Not argue, for one thing,” Eva interrupts. She leans back and sighs, massaging her temples. There's a headache pulsing behind her eyes that's been reoccurring for days now. It feels like someone's taking a screw to her skull. "We haven't been working together long, and there's always a chance that something will come up.”

"Today's hangover is tomorrow's happy hour,” Winona snorts. It's an old saying of George's, from when they were too young to know what a hangover was, and Eva's a little surprised to hear it used so casually.

Dean gestures to the two of them as if to say, _there, see?_ "Even the girls agree with me—and you know what, I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do?"

Sam is beginning to look less defiant now that the three of them have ganged up on him (to an extent,) but the seeds of anger are still there. "Yeah, I know you do, it's just—"

"I'm the one who's been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies.” Dean's tone leaves no room for argument; after a few days of traveling with them, Eva is starting to figure out that it's a voice he reserves especially for his brother. "We _will_ find Dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?"

"We've got our search too, Sam,” she says. "You're not exactly alone in this.”

Winona downs the rest of her coffee like it's whiskey. She snatches up the notepad and stuffs it into her sister's computer bag (Eva could be imagining things, but she seems mindful of the Stanford University sticker on the front.)

"Damn straight,” she grunts.

Sam rolls his eyes at Dean, specifically, and eyes the twins with something that isn't quite guilt. He doesn't move until Winona arches an eyebrow, and while he looks like he's stewing, he also looks resigned.

Wendy walks by again before he can say something, capturing the elder Winchester's attention once more. Everything about it is far from subtle.

"I forgot how much of a player he was,” Eva mumbles, as she slings her bag strap over her shoulder. "I don't know if I should be amused or grossed out.”

Winona snorts, somewhat derisively. "Go with grossed out. It saves time.”

Sam smirks, bemused, and says, "All right, Lake Manitoc.”

A beat passes. Dean is still engrossed in the waitress.

"Hey!"

He finally returns his attention to the three of them, having heard nothing that Sam just said. "Huh?"

Winona snickers again. Eva kicks her, lightly, in the shin, and forces herself not to retaliate when she kicks back. Apparently, there are no reservations on bruises.

Sam ignores them both this time, as unimpressed with Dean's flirting as he was in Nebraska.

"Lake Manitoc. How far?"


End file.
